Librarian cuts 'deeply damaging' to Glasgow schools
In a letter to Glasgow Life from Sean McNamara, CILIPS's director, the body say the library cuts would "further create a growing divide in social class and opportunity."
A council-approved review of library services in February 2024 targeted savings of £100,000, a move which CILIPS claimed has put Glasgow libraries into an impossible position. Glasgow Life has argued the plan will increase access to school libraries citywide by 27%, by raising the number of hours when facilities have some form of staffing, even though it would remove 16 roles in total from the school system.Mr McNamara said: These proposals would be deeply damaging to the education of young people and would de-professionalise a vital service. "School librarians support curriculum delivery, help raise attainment and literacy level and must be protected nationally and locally. "This £100k pre-agreed cut leaves the service with little option but to find damaging cuts, and we believe the only way to avoid diminishing the service significantly would be to reverse this financial decision urgently."
'No compulsory redundancies'
In the letter to the Glasgow Life board, Mr McNamara wrote: "Librarians are specialists in matters of media and information literacy, ethics, and censorship, and with a recent rise of book banning requests it is vital that school librarians are in place in schools to provide their expertise."He added that Glasgow Life should reconsider whether the £100,000 saving was needed.the librarian body should be treated as singular nA Glasgow Life spokesperson previously said: "Glasgow Life is bound by Glasgow City Council's commitment to no compulsory redundancies."Should the proposal be approved, affected staff will have the opportunity to apply for promoted positions or be redeployed into available vacant roles commensurate with their existing pay and grade."The spokesperson added that funding available to provide school library books and other resources would remain above the Scottish average.Consultations with trade unions on the proposals are already under way.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
UK to bear transport costs of ‘one in, one out' asylum seeker deal with France
The UK will pay the costs of transporting asylum seekers to and from France under Keir Starmer's 'one in, one out' deal with Emmanuel Macron, it has emerged. The deal will have to be renewed by 11 June next year, and can be ended at a month's notice by either side, documents made public by the government indicate. A copy of the agreement was released on Tuesday as the prime minister comes under increasing pressure to stop boats carrying asylum seekers from crossing the Channel. The deal will allow the UK to return one person who has entered the country by irregular means in return for taking someone in France whose claim for asylum in the UK is expected to have a greater chance of success. It has been trumpeted by ministers as a 'gamechanging' deal but Home Office sources said it will only apply to about 50 asylum seekers at first. 'All transport costs incurred in connection with readmission pursuant to this agreement shall be borne by the United Kingdom,' the documents state. They continue: 'Those accepted for admittance [from France] … shall be provided by the United Kingdom with transport from a designated place to the United Kingdom (at the cost of the United Kingdom).' If people have an outstanding claim for asylum, they cannot be removed, the deal says. France can reject a requested removal if it 'considers that an individual would be a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any of the Schengen states'. So far in 2025, 25,436 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats – a record for this point in the year since data began being collected in 2018. This is up 48% on this point last year (17,170) and 70% higher than at this stage in 2023 (14,994), according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office data. At least 10 people have died while attempting the journey this year, according to reports by French and UK authorities, but there is no official record of fatalities in the Channel.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Police investigating grooming gangs given AI tools to speed up cold case work
All police forces investigating grooming gangs in England and Wales will be given access to new AI tools to help speed up their investigations. The artificial intelligence tools are already thought to have saved officers in 13 forces more than £20m and 16,000 hours of investigation time. The apps can translate large amounts of text in foreign languages from mobile phones seized by police, and analyse a mass of digital data to find patterns and relationships between suspects. 2:00 'We must punish perpetrators' The rollout is part of a £426,000 boost for the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme, which supports officers to investigate complex cases involving modern slavery, county lines and child sex abuse. The increased access to the AI technology follows Baroness Casey's recommendation for a national operation to review cold grooming gang cases. That operation will review more than 1,200 closed cases of child sexual exploitation. "The sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes, and we must punish perpetrators, provide justice for victims and survivors, and protect today's children from harm," said safeguarding minister Jess Phillips. "Baroness Casey flagged the need to upgrade police information systems to improve investigations and safeguard children at risk. Today we are investing in these critical tools." 1:36 Lack of ethnicity data 'a major failing' Police forces have also been instructed by the home secretary to collect ethnicity data, as recommended by Baroness Casey. Her June report found the lack of data showing sex offenders' ethnicity and nationality in grooming gangs was "a major failing over the last decade or more". She found that officials avoided the issue of ethnicity for fear of being called racist, but there were enough convictions of Asian men "to have warranted closer examination". The government has launched a national inquiry into the abuse and further details are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Prince Harry unhappy after watchdog criticises all sides in charity row
Prince Harry has accused the Charity Commission of 'sitting on the fence' after it published a report that 'criticised all parties' at his charity for 'weaknesses' that 'risked undermining public trust in charities more generally'. The commission did not, however, find evidence of bullying at Sentebale as had been claimed by Sophie Chandauka, chair of the board of trustees. A source close to Harry criticised the Charity Commission report, saying that the prince was 'devastated that the chair has been allowed to succeed with a hostile takeover'. The source added that the commission was 'sitting so far on the fence that their feet are not even touching the ground but soon we'll see the charity accounts and will be able to tell how successful, or otherwise, she [Sophie Chandauka] has been'.
